Tips to Develop Progressive Web Apps similar to Mobile Apps
Dev Technosys wrote an article on our App Developers Blog under the headline Tips to Develop Progressive Web Apps similar to Mobile Apps.
Introduction
Progressive Web apps can easily run in a standalone window or in the browser and can easily take advantage of the features that are native to the operating system like push notifications as well as the ability to work offline. In recent years, they have garnered a lot of media coverage since they are the best option for mobile app developers who wish to reach out to different platforms. Custom web development of progressive web apps has increased by many folds. You can imagine an app which requires to work on both desktop and mobile devices which require native features. The developers of mobile apps would be forced to develop four distinct apps, each for Android, iOS, macOS, and Windows. But owing to the recent embracing of new web technologies by Google and Microsoft, a web development company can add native touch to its web apps. And it requires minor tweaks to make sure the best experience is provided on any system.
However, the major issue with this particular new software paradigm is that most of the developers are currently failing to provide a native feel to their own apps. It is not just about bad performance or missing native features. It is more about lack of polish which is required in different aspects of an app in order to make it feel more native. Here, we will discuss tips to develop progressive web apps similar to mobile apps.
1. Disabling pinch-to-zoom
Most of the progressive web apps allow users to zoom in by means of pinching easily. However, the major problem with this particular approach is that few parts of the user interface eventually wind up to be out of the view. Also, a lot of native apps don’t allow this the feature of pinch-to-zoom outside a limited region like images or maps, and this makes progressive web apps not having a similar native look in comparison. The tip is to disable this particular feature. You might think that it is better to have this particular ability in a given text-based web app, but two buttons in order to increase or decrease the font size can work far better.
2. Changing Interactive Elements
No native app allows you to select interactive elements of its own interface with the mouse cursor. However, almost every web application is entirely and in most cases, selectable. This has the particular effect of making the entire web page to appear like a document rather than a full-fledged interface. As a page can be easily made not selectable with few lines of CSS code, you can change the interactive elements and make them not selectable. During phone app development of progressive web app, a developer should consider this.
3. Reactive programming
You might have heard about Angular and React. These particular JavaScript-based programming languages duly allow the pages to be instantly refreshed as soon as any data is updated. Hence, there is no requirement to refresh any page repeatedly in order to access the latest data as well as it makes the app much more responsive since the app doesn’t need to refresh while changing the page, similar to a native app. Both Angular and React are well-suited for dynamic content. So, if your app is majorly static, then you should use some other technology and your progressive web app will look great.
4. Overriding the right-click menu
If you require to offer your users with a particular context menu, then you should override the default right-click. For starters, by having the context menu of the browser popup every time when you right click fail to provide native feel. Also, it can be difficult to allow your users to do everything with only one mouse button, depending on the complexity of the web app. If you have been indulged in the coding of web apps for considerably long time, you might find difficult to do so. At present, the users expect web apps to have different custom context menus. So, a custom web development company should add a custom context menu to the website if required.
5. Setting home screen icon for each platform
One of the most significant features of progressive web apps is the inherent ability for users to easily pin their apps to their own home screen. This essentially means that since every operating system has its own distinct interface, each one of them requires its own icon. If you wish, you should slightly change the app icon in order to match it with the platform’s style better, as long as it doesn’t appear unrecognizable. For instance, you can easily add a diagonal shadow in the icon of your Android app. Also, don’t forget to select a theme color for your app such that the browsers which support this particular feature can easily change their color in order to match the main one of the app.
Conclusion
Progressive web apps have become significantly popular in recent years. With increasing demand for phone app development of these apps, the developers have to adjust to requirements of the users and the latest trends. Changing features of progressive apps can easily make them similar to mobile apps. You can disable the pinch-to-zoom feature that can provide a more native feel to the app. You can also change the interactive elements to achieve the same. You can also opt for reactive programming. In case you have dynamic content to be displayed on the app, then use Angular or React programming language. Also, you can set a distinct home screen icon for every platform too. Using the above-mentioned tips, you can easily develop progressive apps similar to any mobile app.
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